WBC make historic decision to overturn Hope’s controversial draw to a win

Merthyr Tydfil’s Kerry Hope (23-7, 2KO) has been the focus of boxing history as the WBC have awarded him a win and overturned his highly controversial draw decision against Petchsuriya Singwancha (15-11, 8KO).

As reported by BoxingWales.com last week, Hope’s manager Matt Clark made an official complaint to the WBC and after constant contact with President Mauricio Sulaiman, the appeal process has concluded with two judges receiving suspensions and being ordered to retrain.

Thai judges Pongpan Rattanasutorn and Visuth Yingaupagarn entered two bizarrely inaccurate scorecards of 114-114 and 113-115, respectively. However, the WBC officially rescored the contest and the two new judges, Damrong Simakajornboon and Thawuth Pluemsamran, had it 117-111 to the Welshman – scores in line with Filipino Jerrold Tomeldan, the third original judge.

The middleweights met in Hong Kong on Friday 29 August, the WBC Asian title was on the line and with Hope now ruled the winner, the belt has now been awarded to the Welshman. The decision to overturn the result means Hope’s Australian adventure, where he has relocated with his family, continues with three victories from three outings.

The 33-year-old veteran, a former European champion, already has a top 15 ranking with the WBO and is now likely to enter the WBC rankings, too. Due to the subjective nature of judging boxing, the sport is open to interpretation and is often vulnerable to controversy but the WBC deemed the result to be unacceptable. Their decision to overturn the result is unprecedented and reflects the inaccuracy of two of the original scorecards.